Alabama has always had a soft spot for politicians who put up
a good fight. It was a frontier state at the dawn of
Jacksonian Democracy. The bellicose populism of Andrew
Jackson was wildly popular in a society that, unlike many
other Southern states, did not yet have a dominant planter
class. The Democratic party entrenched itself for more than
a century.

Racial fear was the force that kept Alabamans in line
behind the Democrats. The state party constantly raised the
specter of black Republican rule. It eventually masterminded
the disenfranchisement of most blacks in 1901. One black
editor wrote, "It is goodbye with poor white folks and
niggers now, for the train of disenfranchisement is on the
rail and will come thundering upon us like an avalanche."1
The Alabama Democratic party boldly printed its slogan on the
ballot well into the 1960s: "White Supremacy -- For The
Right." These twin traditions of populism and racism
produced Presidential candidate George Wallace, first known
for his fierce effort to keep the state university lily
white.

Alabama's commitment to the national Democratic party
began to flag in 1948, when half of its delegation stalked
out of the party's convention to protest a strong
civil-rights platform plank. The state supported the States'
Rights Democratic ticket that fall. It has been carried by
the Democrats only three times in the nine subsequent
elections.

ALASKA (WEST, 1960)

Alaska trumpets itself as America's "last frontier." Its
residents hold with religious fervor to frontier ideals,
individualism foremost among them. The Republican party

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